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2025-03-31-accounts

Barnet Community Projects

Registered Charity No. 1139376

Trustees' Annual Report and Accounts for the year ended 31[st] March 2025

Registered Office : Rainbow Centre, Dollis Valley Drive, BARNET, Herts. EN5 2UN

Barnet Community Projects Registered Charity No. 1139376

Trustees’ Annual Report for the year ended 31[st ] March 2025

Charity Name

The full name of the charity is Barnet Community Projects, but it is also referred to by its working name of BCP.

Registered & Operating Addresses

Both the registered & operating addresses of the charity are now c/o the Rainbow Centre, Dollis Valley Drive, BARNET, Herts. EN5 2UN.

Bankers and Examining Accountants

BCP currently banks with TSB plc, PO Box 373, LEEDS LS14 9GQ. Its annual accounts are independently examined by Newman Morris, Wellington House, 273-275 High Street, LONDON COLNEY, Herts. AL2 1HA.

Trustees

The following individuals have served as Trustees during the period covered by this report :

Michael Benaim Chair
Stephen Pegum Treasurer
Ken Morton Secretary
Steve Bull
Emma Not

Governing Document

The charity is governed by its Constitution as adopted on 25[th] September 2010, and as amended on 11[th] December 2010, as further amended on 25[th] February 2023.

Charitable Objects for Public Benefit

The main charitable objects of BCP are :

To promote any charitable purpose for the benefit of the community in the London Borough of Barnet as the Trustees see fit, in particular but not exclusively by the following means :

a) To promote the efficiency & effectiveness of charities and the effective

application & use of resources by non-charitable bodies for the public benefit in particular but not exclusively by providing or assisting in the set-up of community projects, supporting their administration and providing support services to them and by facilitating partnership and co-operation in the voluntary sector;

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Barnet Community Projects Registered Charity No. 1139376 Trustees’ Annual Report for the year ended 31[st ] March 2025

Charitable Objects for Public Benefit (continued)

c) To promote community capacity building for the public benefit, in particular but not limited to young people;

d) The relief of unemployment for the public benefit;

e) The advancement of education for the public benefit, including the provision of training, information & advice and promoting opportunities for members of the community to develop new skills & knowledge;

f) To further for the benefit of members of the community without distinction of sex, sexual orientation, race or political, religious or other opinions by associating together members of the community, local authorities, voluntary & other organisations in a common effort to provide facilities in the interests of social welfare for recreation and other leisure-time occupations with the objective of improving the conditions of life of community members.

Where in the views of the Trustees it is expedient in the interests of the charity, the Trustees may support & encourage overseas partnership projects which are youth- and community -focused, in such countries of the world as they see fit.

Projects, services and achievements during the year

Introduction

The year ended 31[st] March 2025 has seen BCP continue to concentrate on its core provision of a foodbank for the poorest residents in our local area, a Lunch Club in the school holidays primarily for children in receipt of free school meals, mixed martial arts training for both adults and young people, with new ventures of providing NFL flag football training in local schools as well as a program of peer mentoring support for some of the young people who attend our Lunch Club.

Dollis Valley Angels foodbank

The weekly foodbank continues to be used by an increased number of clients – by the end of the year under review we were distributing to over 60 local families each week. Weekly deliveries (on Wednesdays) continued to be supplied by the Felix Project, a London-based food redistribution charity set up in 2016 to tackle food poverty. We receive two separate deliveries each week – a supply of ambient (i.e. non-chilled) foodstuffs and a newer supply of frozen foods, which has required us to provide additional freezer space to store those supplies.

Additional weekly donations were collected from the Barnet Food Hub, a local initiative established by Barnet Together, a collaboration between Inclusion Barnet, Volunteering Barnet, Groundwork London and the Young Barnet Foundation. Sadly we heard after the year-end that the Food Hub would be closing at the end of September 2024, as Barnet Council could no longer afford to fund this non-statutory service.

A food hygiene inspection by Barnet Council in February confirmed our food hygiene rating as 4 which rates as good.

Our dedicated team of foodbank volunteers was led by Sarah Snell, with able support each week from Christine, Jeanette, Karen and Rosie. The Trustees are most grateful to the whole team for their valuable & dedicated service.

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Barnet Community Projects Registered Charity No. 1139376 Trustees’ Annual Report for the year ended 31[st ] March 2025

Projects, services and achievements during the year (continued)

Lunch Club

Lunch Club continued to operate during the school holidays offering a mix of sports, crafts and cooking activities, plus puzzles and games followed by a two-course nutritional meal cooked fresh every day. At Easter the school holiday coincided with the bank holiday weekend, so there were only seven days available in the two weeks, but the children enjoyed making Easter-themed hats to take home. The May half-term was also cut short by a bank holiday.

During the summer holidays Lunch Club ran for the full four weeks and included all the usual activities with two workshops; the first on the basics of mushroom growing, which saw the children take home a starter kit of their own and the second on making various shapes out of balloons. There were also more STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics) activities mixed in with the craft activities. The children went to Gulliver’s World during the second week and Walton-on-theNaze on the last day; the latter is always enjoyed although this year they were frustrated by a galeforce wind blowing the water up the beach which meant no paddling; however much fun was had building sandcastles which were decorated with the flags which the children had made.

October half-term ran for the full four days with a mix of activities including making leaf-shaped face masks as a nod to autumn. In February 2025 the half-term holiday saw another four days of sport, crafts and other activities.

Some of the children continued to visit We are GROW (an agroecological farm based at The Totteridge Academy) each week. Garlic and onions were harvested, some of which were used in making food for our Lunch Club. Strawberries were planted and harvested and lots of tomatoes and spinach grown.

Lunch Club and the Trustees would like to thank the Mayor’s Kitchen Social, Young Barnet Foundation and others who provide the financial support which enables Lunch Club to continue operating.

Barnet Rail Pastors (BRP)

As previous annual reports have noted, this is the only BCP project that is not run directly from the Rainbow Centre. Instead it takes place on parts of both the Thameslink (TL) line (between Elstree & Borehamwood and West Hampstead) and the Great Northern (GN) line (between Finsbury Park and Stevenage). The BRP team is co-ordinated by Paul Lewis, and they work in very close co-operation with both local station staffs and British Transport Police (BTP).

The principal aim of BRP is to act as a friendly and listening presence for people using the rail network, especially at times when those passengers might be feeling vulnerable or be at risk in some way. During 2024-25, they carried out a total of 36 patrols, with an average of 3 patrols per month – usually 2 patrols per month on the GN route and 1 per month on the TL route.

The Trustees wish to record their grateful thanks for the financial support provided to BRP by Govia Thameslink Railway, without whose support we would be unable to provide this vital service. We also wish to acknowledge the helpful support of the Ascension Trust, who co-ordinate all rail pastor schemes on a national basis.

Mixed martial arts (MMA) training

Sensei Ibush Kabashi is a 5th Dan Jujitsu master who has taught MMA for over 25 years. MMA has recently been described as the fastest-growing sport in the world currently – it comprises boxing, Japanese & Brazilian Jujitsu, judo & wrestling. The training classes continued to be hugely popular throughout the year, especially with the children – Ibush now has some 100 children & young people now registered with his club. The children’s classes are free, whilst Ibush changes for his adult classes. Three sessions are run each week – on Mondays, Wednesdays & Fridays.

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Barnet Community Projects Registered Charity No. 1139376 Trustees’ Annual Report for the year ended 31[st ] March 2025

Projects, services and achievements during the year (continued)

National Football League (NFL) flag football training

This is a new project for BCP that began around May 2023 with initial funding from the NFL Foundation UK, the charitable arm of the NFL within the UK. Using sports coaches from the South London Renegades (a club run by our Director Steve Verrall) and an independent coach called Denapoli Williams, weekly training sessions were run at a number of schools in the borough (see the full list of participating schools on page 5). This sport will feature in the Olympics in Los Angeles in 2028, and it is hoped that at least one player from a local school will be selected to participate in those games.

Peer mentoring

As noted in the introductory paragraph, this is another new venture that began during the year, with initial financial support being provided by the Young Barnet Foundation, for which the Trustees are most grateful. Our peer mentoring program is designed to leverage the wisdom and experience of mature young people to provide guidance, encouragement, and practical assistance to younger peers. Peer mentors are trained on Outcomes Star, a family of evidence-based tools specifically developed to measure and support change. A number of the sports coaches from the South London Renegades were able to offer one-to-one mentoring for some of the young people from our Lunch Club whose needs had been identified. We are already seeing positive outcomes for the young people taking part, with better behaviour at school and at home. Good trusting relationships have been formed and we expect this progress to continue

Other regular services

These include :

a weekly toddler group attended by between 12 & 14 children and parents on Thursday mornings

weekly online counselling sessions for a small number of people.

Rainbow Centre bookings

The lease with Barnet Council for the Rainbow Centre is actually held by the Rainbow Centre Users Group (RCUG), a company limited by guarantee with very close ties to BCP. As this company incurs all of the costs of running the Centre (such as utilities, telephone, waste disposal etc.), it also retains the income from any lettings. As noted in last year’s report, these bookings have failed to recover to their pre-pandemic levels – at present they consist mainly of the MMA sessions (see above) and a weekly Muslim prayer group each Friday, although the Muslims found other premises to move to shortly after the year-end.

RCUG has experienced much higher energy costs this year and has been supported by payments from BCP, as noted in Note 8 on page 11 of these accounts.

Financial review

In 2024-25, BCP incurred a deficit of £8.6K compared to a smaller deficit of £3.9K in 2023-24. At the balance sheet date, the bank balance stood at £55.9K compared to £58.7K at the previous year-end date. Please refer to the attached detailed accounts for a full overview of the financial results of the last two years.

Going concern basis

The Trustees are of the firm opinion that the charity has adequate resources to continue in operation for the foreseeable future and that is appropriate to prepare the attached financial statements on the going concern basis.

Page 5

Barnet Community Projects Registered Charity No. 1139376 Trustees’ Annual Report for the year ended 31[st ] March 2025

The Trustees wish to offer their heartfelt thanks to the following organisations for their generous support of BCP during the period of this report :

Govia Thameslink Railway Finchley Progressive Synagogue Dollis Valley Flexible Fund Hendon Christian Housing Association Young Barnet Foundation The Mayor's Fund for London Mercers' Company John Lyon's Charity NFL Foundation Barnet Choral Society

Additionally, BCP acknowledges the following organisations who either supported BCP or who worked in partnership with BCP during the last year :

We are GROW The Felix Project FareShare London Rainbow Centre Users Group Street Games MMA (North London) Sport England London Youth Trussell Trust South London Renegades Ascension Trust Darul Noor Islamic Centre British Transport Police Christmas on Jesus

BCP also wishes to thank the following schools in the Borough for participating in the NFL flag football training programme that was started in this financial year :

East Barnet School Christ College Finchley St Mary & St John Saracens High School

BCP volunteers

Finally, the Trustees would like to thank all of the volunteers who work tirelessly on behalf of BCP and whose time is of course given freely. Without their hard work & dedication, many of the activities detailed above simply would not be able to take place.

Page 6

Barnet Community Projects Registered Charity No. 1139376 Trustees’ Annual Report for the year ended 31[st ] March 2025

Trustees’ Responsibilities in relation to the Financial Statements

The Trustees are responsible for preparing the Trustees’ Annual Report and the related Financial Statements in accordance with applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards. The law applicable to charities in England and Wales requires the Trustees to prepare Financial Statements for each financial year which give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the charity and of the incoming resources and application of resources of the charity for that period. In preparing these Financial Statements, the Trustees are required to :

The Trustees are responsible for keeping accounting records which disclose with reasonable accuracy the financial position of the charity and enable them to ascertain to ensure that the financial statements comply with the Charities Act 1993, the Charity (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008 and the provisions of the Constitution. They are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the charity and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities. The Trustees are responsible for the maintenance and integrity of the information included on the charity’s website.

Approved by the Trustees on 29[th] September 2025 and signed on their behalf by :

Benaim

S J Pegum

Chair

Treasurer

Page 7

Barnet Community Projects Registered Charity No. 1139376

Statement of Financial Activities (SoFA) for the year ended 31[st] March 2025

General Funds Restricted Endowment TOTALS Year ended
(Unrestricted) Funds Funds THIS YEAR 31.03.24
INCOMING RESOURCES Notes £ £ £ £ £
Grants received 1 3,776 99,507 0 103,283 104,993
Donatons received 1 0 8,052 0 8,052 5,958
Other income 1 & 2 1,292 0 0 1,292 248
TOTAL INCOMING RESOURCES £ 5,068 £ 107,559 £ 0 £ 112,627 £ 111,199
RESOURCES EXPENDED
Direct Charitable Expenditure
Direct labour costs (including social security
costs) 3 0 82,572 0 82,572 78,224
Other direct expenditure 4 0 28,244 0 28,244 29,444
Insurance premiums paid 0 660 0 660 595
Rent 0 9,212 0 9,212 6,250
0 120,688 0 120,688 114,513
Indirect Charitable Expenditure
Depreciaton of fxed assets 5 538 0 0 538 542
TOTAL RESOURCES EXPENDED £ 538 £ 120,688 £ 0 £ 121,226 115,055
Transfers between funds 5,526 (5,526) 0 0 0
NET INCOMING / (OUTGOING) RESOURCES FOR
THE YEAR £ 10,056 £ (18,655) £ 0 £ (8,599) £ (3,856)

The Statement of Financial Activities includes all gains & losses for the year. All Incoming Resources and Resources Expended derive from continuing activities. The notes on pages 9 and 10 form part of the Accounts.

Page 7

Barnet Community Projects
Registered Charity No. 1139376
31.03.25
Notes
£
£
FIXED ASSETS
Historic Cost
17,330
Additons in year
0
5
(13,924)
3,406
CURRENT ASSETS
Cash at bank (current account)
55,898
Debtors & accrued revenue
0
Prepayments (re insurance premiums)
0
55,898
(1,733)
Deferred Income
6
(32,325)
(34,058)
NET CURRENT ASSETS
21,840
TOTAL NET ASSETS
£
25,246
FUNDS
Unrestricted Funds
7
Balance as at 1st April 2024
(32,808)
10,056
(22,752)
Restricted Funds
7
Balance as at 1st April 2024
66,653
(18,655)
47,998
TOTAL FUNDS CARRIED FORWARD
£
25,246
The notes on pages 9 and 10 form part of the Accounts.
Balance Sheet as at 31st March 2025
Less:Accumulated Depreciaton
LESS: CURRENT LIABILITIES-Amounts falling due
within one year
Net Incoming Resources for the year ended 31st
March 2025
Balance as at 31stMarch 2025
Net Outgoing Resources for the year ended
31stMarch 2025
Balance as at 31stMarch 2025
Approved by the Trustees on 29th September 2025 and signed on their behalf by :		 31.03.24
£
£
17,330
0
(13,386)
3,944
58,721
0
0
58,721
(3,581)
(25,239)
(28,820)
29,901
£
33,845
(42,705)
9,897
(32,808)
80,406
(13,753)
66,653
£
33,845		 31.03.24
£
£
17,330
0
(13,386)
3,944
58,721
0
0
58,721
(3,581)
(25,239)
(28,820)
29,901
£
33,845
(42,705)
9,897
(32,808)
80,406
(13,753)
66,653
£
33,845

M Benaim

S J Pegum

Chair

Treasurer

Page 8

Barnet Community Projects Registered Charity No. 1139376

Notes to the Accounts for the year ended 31[st ] March 2025

1. Accounting Policies

The principal Accounting Policies are summarised below :

Basis of Accounting

The financial statements have been prepared under the historical cost convention with items recognised at cost or transaction value, unless otherwise stated in the relevant notes to these accounts. The accounts have been prepared in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102) and with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable to the Micro-entities Regime (FRS 105) and with the Charities Act 2011.

Recognition of Income

These are included in the Statement of Financial Activities (SoFA) when the charity becomes entitled to the resources, it is more likely than not that the Trustees will receive the resources and the monetary value can be measured with sufficient reliability. The previous policy was to recognise Grants Received in the Statement of Financial Activities as & when these were received. A change was made in the accounts for 2015-16 to recognise this income as it relates to the periods for which these grant funds are made. All income in 2024-25 that relates to the following financial year is now shown in the Balance Sheet as Deferred Income (see also Note 6). Donations Received and Other Income are recognised in full in the Statement of Financial Activities when they are received.

Offsetting

There has been no offsetting of assets and liabilities, nor income and expenditure.

Liability Recognition

Liabilities are recognised where it is more likely than not there is a legal or constructive obligation committing the charity to pay out resources and the amount of the obligation can be measured with reasonable certainty.

Going Concern Basis

The Trustees have assessed whether the use of the going concern basis is appropriate and have considered possible events or conditions that might cast doubt on the ability of the charity to continue as a going concern. The Trustees have assessed the charity's forecast and projections and have made this assessment for a period of at least one year from the date of approving these financial statements. The Trustees have concluded that the charity has sufficient resources to continue in operational existence for the foreseeable future and consequently it is appropriate to continue to adopt the going concern basis in preparing its financial statements.

2. Other Income

2024-25 2023-24

Other Income is analysed as follows :

Restricted
Reimbursement by We are GROW of costs of visitng children from Lunch Club
£
Unrestricted
Refund from MMA
Unidentfed receipt
TOTAL
£		 0
248
285
1,007

1,292
0

3. Staff Costs & Trustees' Remuneration

No employee received employee benefits (excluding employer pension costs) for the reporting period of more than £60,000 (2023-24 : Nil). None of the Trustees have been paid any remuneration or received any other benefits from any employment with the charity or a related entity.

4. Other Direct Expenditure

4. Other Direct Expenditure
Other Direct Expenditure includes the following costs :
Professional fees & accountancy costs
Catering costs
Printng, postage, statonery & telephone
Training costs
Ofce expenses (incl. IT costs)
Travel costs
Publicatons & journals
Memberships
Foodbank
Cleaning & cleaning materials
All other costs (total)
TOTAL
£		 Total
Unrestricted
Restricted
£
£
£
1,006
0
1,006
5,438
0
5,438
366
0
366
0
0
0
3,542
0
3,542
3,581
0
3,581
114
0
114
440
0
440
4,452
0
4,452
1,845
0
1,845
7,460
0
7,460
28,244
0
28,244

5. Depreciation of Fixed Assets & Capitalisation Threshold

Depreciation is provided on a straight-line basis on the historic purchase price of the charity's Fixed Assets, to write these off over their estimated useful economic lives, as follows :

IT Equipment - 2 years

Other Assets - 5 years

Purchases greater than £500 in value are accounted for as Fixed Assets; below that threshold, any expenditure is written off in-year.

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Barnet Community Projects Registered Charity No. 1139376

Notes to the Accounts for the year ended 31[st ] March 2025

6. Deferred Income

As described in Note 1 above, a change in accounting policy was made in 2015-16 to reflect the different funding periods for BCP's Grants Received. The amount shown in the Balance Sheet as Deferred Income resembles the amount of grants actually received in 2024-25 that relate instead to 2025-26.This Deferred Income will form part of BCP's Restricted Funds in the following financial year.

7. Reserves Policy

The previous intention of the Trustees was to hold in Reserves an amount equivalent to approximately six months' worth of expenditures. Following a re-assessment of this policy, the Trustees have now given regard to the possible longer-term liabilities of BCP, especially in the unlikely event of a cessation of the charity's operations. In that regard, the only longer-term liability of BCP would be paying the salaries of the two paid staff members during their contractual notice periods. It is estimated that this cost would not exceed £15,000 and the Trustees are confident that BCP has sufficient reserves in hand at the balance sheet date to cover this cost. Additionally, the Trustees are equally confident that if the accounting policies now adopted regarding Grants Received had been in place since the charity's inception, then the deficit currently showing in the Balance Sheet on Unrestricted Funds would not in fact exist.

8. Related Party Transactions

During the year, the following notional rent payments were made to the Rainbow Centre Users Group towards the costs of operating their premises :

ses :
2024-25 2023-24
Rainbow Centre Users Group £9,212 £6,250

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